Fan Boy
by DarkStar401
Summary: First ever attempt at Fan Fiction. Freddy's biggest fan Louisa goes to the US to meet her cousin, who introduces her to Alex, Freddy's other biggest fan, who makes her believe that it might not have been just a story after all.
1. Chapter 1

Fan Boy

After all the months of anticipation, the numerous Facebook messages, the long wait for school to finish, and of course the long flight, Louisa finally arrived in America.

Her aunt Emma met her at the airport, with an accent that was still very close to her own Scottish one and a hug similar to that of Louisa's mother. Sam was waiting in the car excitedly. They were born only seven months apart, yet this was only the second time that the cousins had met in person, the first being eight years ago, when they were only nine and seemed pretty similar.

Sam's Facebook page had shown Louisa that they were no longer quite so similar. The perfect photos of her cousin with shiny blonde hair and a perfect dental smile gave her the impression that she was the stereotypical American cheerleader she had come across in her TV programmes at home. She wondered what Sam had thought of her own Facebook profile, the photo taken on the park bench, where she wore all black, except for her bright pink bracelets that matched the highlights in her dyed black hair. Despite all these differences, the cousins were still dying to meet.

Sam came running out of the car when she seen them approaching. It was getting dark, but still ridiculously hot. The small slim figure came running out of the car, her pretty white dress moving in the breeze as she approached Louisa for a hug.

"Did you bring your drawings?" she asked in her American accent, as they climbed into the backseat of the car, Emma forcing Louisa's suitcase into the boot. Louisa nodded, patting the large black bag that hung over her shoulder. Inside there was a plastic folder containing all of the drawings that Louisa spent her spare time doing.

It was one of the common interests that the girls had continued to share over the years, that and their love of horror films. When Sam had visited that summer all those years ago, they had stumbled across "A Nightmare on Elm Street" on TV, one night long after they should have been asleep. They had watched, terrified and fascinated. Neither admitted to the other that if they'd been alone they'd have turned it off. They didn't sleep well at all that night; every creak in the house sent them into a state of hysteria. Yet, the fascination remained. A few nights later, they actively went looking through the channels for another film like it, looking for the thrill in the terror.

It seemed to have created some sort of a bond between the two. Sam had seen some of Louisa's drawings on Facebook, and insisted she bring them over with her. There was no need for her to bring any art supplies though, she had plenty. She promised to introduce her to her neighbour Alex, who had been her friend even when they were nine. He'd like the drawings.

After arriving at the apartment, phoning her mother to let her know she'd arrived safely and eating Emma's spaghetti and meatballs, the two girls went to Sam's room. The large room was painted a cream colour, with pretty posters of puppies and other animals around the walls. Her bedding and most of the accessories in the room were a pale pink colour. Cushions of different sizes and shades of pink covered the top half of the bed, a small brown teddy bear seated in the centre.

On the bedside table, there lay a drawing, done in pencil. It was a Labrador puppy, leaning on the outline of a cushion. The puppy looked complete, shaded lightly in grey pencil with some darker patches around its eyes. Some detail had been done on the large cushion, but it was more detailed at the top than the bottom. Louisa lifted the drawing. Her art teacher would love it. She didn't encourage Louisa to submit her favourite drawings as coursework. They were "inappropriate". There was nothing inappropriate about this. A poster lay under the drawing, of the puppy, leaning upon a pile of cushions.

"It's really good," she told Sam.

"I have more," she said, opening her desk drawer. "Can I see yours?"

Louisa's bag sat at the foot of the bed. She lifted out her plastic folder. It was like a child to her. She placed the folder on the bed as she sat down, the first drawing clearly visible. Sam sat opposite her, looking at the front drawing with the same morbid fascination she'd expressed when they'd first seen this character.

It had been copied from the front of the DVD, Freddy stood behind the film title, in front of Nancy, brandishing his steel claws. Beneath the logo, there was his silhouette in the boiler room. It had been drawn in chalk, taking Louisa hours to complete paying attention to every detail. She'd stayed late at school that day, and gone through a great deal of red chalk. Miss Atkins had liked it, she said as Louisa finally left, but the examiner might not.

"It's brilliant," Sam said, as Louisa took it from the folder, letting her see it more closely. "I'm not good at people."

She had the same fascination with the other drawings, some paintings, some just pencil. The first few she'd done were copied, then she made some more on her own. The very last one showed Freddy brandishing extra large claws in front of a red haired girl, and Louisa showed it to Sam free of the fear that she'd recognise the victim as Amy Rowling, who'd called Louisa a freak a few hours before art class one day.

"Can we show Alex?" Sam asked. "He loves Freddy too, has all the figurines." Louisa nodded, proud of how impressed Sam was. It scared a lot of people. Her mother often commented on how she wished she'd just draw landscapes. "We could go now, if he's in."

Louisa nodded again. Sam took her phone from her jeans pocket, scrolled down a list and touched the screen to make a call. Louisa could hear the faint sound of the phone ringing. After three rings, a voice answered.

"Hello."

"Alex, are you home?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," the muffled voice replied.

"My cousin's here. We were going to come in show you some of her drawings, and she could see some of your Freddy stuff?"

The next sentence was muffled, but Louisa heard enough of it to understand that the speaker was okay with them dropping by.

Alex's collection was by all means impressive. A whole bookshelf contained artefacts. There were many figures of Freddy, different sizes and poses. There was a figure of Nancy in the bath as a large claw reached out from the water. Original film posters were framed and lined up along the wall, seven Freddy's looking down on their collection. A hat sat on top on the bookshelf, beside a large set of claws.

Alex was sat on the bed beside Sam, admiring Louisa's artwork, laughing about what the art teacher at their school would say about it.

"Can I try them on?" Louisa asked, interrupting the friends' conversation.

Alex looked up at her with large brown eyes, his dark fringe sat just above them. His eyes then went to the glove and hat, realising what Louisa was asking. "Sure you can," he responded. He seemed even more American than Sam.

His teeth were just perfect like hers, as he smiled, getting up to help Louisa with the glove. It was slightly heavy as she lifted it, but the claws when she touched them were not sharp. She could smell his aftershave as he stood beside her, helping to slide her hand into the glove. Sam giggled, watching them.

Alex strapped the glove at Louisa's wrist. She had worn one last Halloween, but it was cheap and the claws were bent. This was just like the real one. She stretched the claws out as her free hand lifted the hat.

"You look way too happy," Sam laughed.

Louisa laughed too, placing the hat on her head. She couldn't fix it properly with the glove on. Sam moved to help but Alex was already fixing it, pulling down on the hat at either side.

He grinned, looking down at Louisa, and she grinned back. He didn't look like the other friends she'd seen in photos. He wore loose jeans and a baggy black t-shirt bearing a shiny white skull. She wondered if there had ever been anything other than friendship between him and Sam, and found herself hoping there hadn't.

She looked around the room for a mirror, and found one on the far wall. It was small, and rectangular, the kind only good for combing your hair with. To see herself properly, she had to keep slightly far back from it. She stretched the claw out in front of her, a pose she'd seen Freddy do in many photos. She was still smiling. Her striped top was at home, she wished she had it to match her look. They didn't quite match her purple vest top.

"I love these," she said, loosening the strap on the glove. "They're like the real thing."

"You know he's real though, don't you?"

"No, he isn't." Louisa placed the items carefully back on the shelf. "How gullible do you think I am?"

"He is." Alex sat down on his computer chair, spinning to face the bed as Louisa sat across from Sam, gathering up her drawings.

"He is not!" she argued. "I've looked at every website, every Wikipedia page."

"That's 'cause the real guy's not called Freddy Krueger. And the film's not really based on him. He based himself on the films, if you get me."

Louisa looked at him, frowning slightly, looking for a grin, some sign that she was not about to make a fool of her. She looked to Sam then, who wasn't laughing either.

"So someone tried to copy him?" she asked. "Is this true, or is it one of those stories?"

"It's true!" Alex insisted. Sam shrugged, and Louisa could tell that she had heard this story before. She looked to Alex to continue the story.

"Few years ago, young guy called Josh Handelman, was sixteen. He was a typical nerd apparently. Went to science club, chess club, all that kinda stuff, got bullied by the cool kids. Anyway, he was quite into Freddy, like us, owned all the films. He spent most of his weekends in the basement, used it as a kind of lab. His family never bothered him there; they never expected he'd be up to no good.

Anyway, he got back from school one day quite badly beaten; group of kids from his school had attacked him. His parents did the typical 'going to see the teacher' thing that never helps. All the kids were named; think they got a detention or something like that. It took him a few weeks, and things had calmed a bit at school, but he made himself a glove, a real one."

Louisa glanced at the glove she'd replaced on the shelf. The claws looked sharp, like they'd slice her in two, but they were soft to touch.

"Did he kill them?" she asked Alex, knowing the answer.

He nodded, swinging slightly in his chair.

"Was he caught?"

"Not at first. The kids who had attacked him were killed one by one, but no one suspected Josh. He was the kind of kid you just forgot about. Then he killed some more people. No one knows if they did anything, or if he'd just decided he liked to kill people by then. Anyway, it was about a month after the first murders that he killed his dad after some argument. When the police went to his house, they found the glove."

"Where did this happen?" Louisa asked after a silence.

"Manhattan, apparently."

"If it's true," Sam said. "Alex doesn't know that."

"I do too, my uncle told me!"

Sam raised her eyebrows. "It doesn't make it true."

Louisa walked back over to the shelf where she touched the blades of the glove again. They were soft, didn't even scratch her skin when she touched them.

"Guy just snapped," Alex said, as she sat back down on the bed.

Louisa looked down at the drawing in front of her: Amy Rowling cowered in a fiery corner as Freddy approached.


	2. Chapter 2

Louisa tossed and turned on the small single bed, unable to find a comfortable sleeping position. Would she manage this for a month? In the next room, she could hear Sam snoring. She tried lying on her side again, in the hope that this time it would bring her more comfort.

_Maybe if I just don't think about the bed. _She closed her eyes and tried to distract her mind. She should have been long sleeping by now. She'd been awake since 5am. The memory of meeting Sam came to her with a smile. The first time they'd met, they were almost like the same person. They had spent Sam's whole visit together, and Louisa had cried when she left, begging to go with her and Emma. The image of her running from the car earlier that day came to Louisa. She was so pretty. But still, there was still so much of the eight year old that she remembered. She wished she could hear what Sam had thought of her. And what Alex thought.

He was good looking, she reflected, remembering how he had fixed the hat on her head. The smell of his aftershave! He and Sam had been friends since she moved here when she was only four. Louisa remembered how she talked about him on that first visit. The boys that she imagined Sam to be friends with were athletic and well "the cool kids". But Alex didn't seem like that, with his longish hair and baggy jeans. He reminded her a little of Matthew. The memory of Matthew gave her a little pang in her heart. Stupid idiot. She tried to shake the memory away. It wouldn't budge.

Only an hour before he broke her heart, they were lying together on his bed, a music channel on the TV unwatched. His body curved round hers, his arm around her waist as he stretched over to kiss her cheek. She imagined Alex would feel the same way, lying behind her right now. She reached above her head and touched the wall behind her. His room was only on the other side of the wall. It was at that point she gave in and accepted that she liked him. She smiled at the realisation, wondering if he liked her too. If only he were here.

She was almost asleep when she heard the door to the apartment creak open. She awoke with a start. Sam was still snoring. Wasn't the door locked? Soft footsteps moved down the hallway, passed Emma's room, and stopped right outside of Louisa's door. She could see his shadow beneath the door. He opened the door so that she could see his outline. It was him, she realised with a smile. He was really here.

He still wore the jeans and top he'd had on earlier. Louisa found herself grateful that it was dark, remembering the embarrassing teddy bear pyjamas she had on. He made his way over to the bed. In the dim light from the hallway, she could see his face. He smiled at her, as he reached down to stroke her hair.

She didn't speak in case she woke Emma and Sam up, as she slid back against the wall in the bed, making space for him to slide in. He unfastened his jeans first, letting them fall to the floor. She glanced shyly at his tight boxers, lifting the sheet for him. He climbed into the small bed, his bare legs overlapping hers, his arms around her as he kissed her gently on the lips. His hands moved inside her top as he kissed her again, a longer kiss this time. She was forced onto her back as he climbed on top of her, feeling him hard between her legs. His hands moved further up her top. She bit her lip so as not to make any noise. He was still kissing her as his hand moved downwards into her shorts, stroking her where it felt best. He sat up as he pulled her shorts down. She slid them off her ankles. His shorts were off when he came back down to her, pushing down hard until he was thrusting himself inside of her. She clung tightly to him, trying hard not to squeal as the bed creaked loudly beneath them, faster and faster until that last hard thrust when he slid out of her. He kissed her again before lying down, she rolled back onto her side, allowing him to curve around her like she'd imagined.

He was kissing her neck as his fingers stroked her leg. His nails were sharp, she thought, feeling them scratch the skin a little. Really sharp, they were scratching more as they moved up her body, towards her rib cage. It was only as his hand reached the front of her body that she heard the steel claws scratch one another before they sunk into her skin.

She awoke with a start. It was morning. Sun shone through the curtains lighting the small room. She was alone in the bed. It had felt so real. She reached down, feeling that her shorts were still on. There were no jeans abandoned on the floor. Of course it was a dream. Clearly he wouldn't just walk into the apartment and climb into her bed. She touched her stomach, remembering the steel claws sinking in.

It wasn't real.


	3. Chapter 3

The dream played on Louisa's mind all day. It wasn't the first time she'd had a bad dream about Freddy. Given her obsession, it was hardly surprising. Usually by the time she'd eaten breakfast, the recollection was blurry, and by lunch time the dream completely forgotten.

It was because of that stupid story, she thought, eating pizza with Sam. She remained unconvinced that it was true. She didn't strictly believe that Alex had lied to her, but that maybe he'd been a little gullible when his uncle told him the story. Sam told her of how this same uncle had told a five year old Alex that there were snakes in his mother's cupboard so that he wouldn't snoop for Christmas presents. Yet, Alex still believed his every word.

"Why are you asking anyway?" Sam said, eating her pizza. "Did it scare you?"

"A little," Louisa answered, shyly. "I had a bad dream"

"A Freddy one?"

Louisa nodded. She didn't tell Sam about Alex in the dream. She kind of wished that part had been real. After lunch, they wandered round the mall. Sam pointed out shops that she liked best and they visited the ones that Louisa had never seen before. Alex worked in the shoe shop at weekends, Sam informed Louisa as they passed. It was only Wednesday today.

She had hoped Sam would suggest they pay Alex another visit, but she didn't. She had almost managed to forget the dream, until she was in the shower that night. As the water rinsed the shower gel from her stomach, she remembered that feeling of the claws. (You can't feel in a dream can you?) She touched the moist skin. It felt sensitive. She looked down, and seen four little red spots where the claws had stabbed her. They were only spots.

Over the next few days, Sam and Emma introduced Louisa to the other neighbours on their floor. She met some of Sam's school friends too. They seemed nice, although she imagined if she'd met them in her school they might not get along so well. Only once did she see Alex, going down the elevator, on his way to work.

Louisa slept a little better in the small spare room, although it was never as comfortable on her own. She drew a lot, helping Sam to work on drawing people, a skill she might never have perfected had it not been for her love of Freddy. Sam loved art as much as she did, and worked hard, listening carefully to Louisa's advice. Her own drawings continued to be of Freddy, boiler rooms, and the infamous house on Elm Street. She was trying to work on a close up drawing of the glove, wondering if it would be an acceptable excuse to visit Alex.

She didn't have many that showed the glove in great detail, and wondered why it had never occurred to her before. Sam looked at the drawing after dinner one night, the basic outline of the glove was there, but it lacked in detail.

"Is it supposed to look like Alex's glove?" she asked her.

"Yeah, well, like Freddy's."

"We should go see him, and then you can copy it."

Louisa tried not to look too enthusiastic with a small smile. Sam rang Alex like she did on that first night and he was available for a visit.

He asked a lot of questions, while Louisa sat on the floor with the glove placed in front of her. She kept touching the blades, as though they'd suddenly be sharp. She began shading the outline of the blades while she talked. He was interested to know how she liked the area, naming places and asking if Sam had taken her to them.

"I really like your glove," Louisa commented, after having finished the last blade, moving to the knuckles.

"It's from eBay," he told her, bending down to look at the drawing. As she smelled his aftershave, she recalled how he'd cuddled round her in the dream, before those blades sank into her skin.

He was watching her draw now. She didn't like people watching. She turned to face Sam, who sat on the bed, looking at the shelf of DVDs on the wall.

"Do you have all of the films?" Louisa asked Alex, hoping that he'd stop watching her draw.

He looked away from her drawing. She felt relieved. "Yeah, course I do. You got them?"

She nodded. "What else do you have?"

"Everything," Sam replied, looking at the wide range of films. "Can we put one on?"

"Sure," Alex said, walking over to the shelf. He ran his finger along the top shelf. "What's the best Freddy?"

"First one," Louisa replied, looking back down at her glove.

"Yeah, first one," Sam agreed.

The glove didn't look real, Louisa thought, disappointed in herself. It was too distracting here.

"I prefer second, if I'm honest, but ladies' choice."

Once the film was on, Louisa felt too distracted to focus on the drawing. She replaced the glove back onto its shelf, touching the blades again.

Halfway through the film, Sam received a phone call from Emma.

"Why?" she moaned. "What about Louisa? What's she going to do?"

It became clear that she was speaking to Emma. After asking more questions, she hung up the phone with a sigh, scowling. "It's my Aunt Shelly's birthday tomorrow. My dad's coming to get me at lunch time."

Sam's parents had been divorced since she was two years old, and he never played a particularly big part in her life, except for weekly phone calls, family occasions and the odd weekend visit. Over the few days when Louisa had been there, he had hardly been mentioned, and when he was, Sam showed little concern for him.

"My mum'll be in tomorrow though," she told Louisa. You can hang out in my room. I won't be gone that long."

"I'll be in tomorrow," Alex said. "If you want to hang out here? Draw the glove some more."

Louisa smiled at the thought, and Sam nodded in satisfaction. "That's an idea, rather than being on your own."

They left after the film was finished. Louisa wasn't happy with the drawing. Sam empathised with her, and they worked together on the shading to try and make it more real looking. It was getting to Louisa. She thought about starting again.

Sleep didn't come easy that night. It felt too hot again, and she had gotten frustrated because of the drawing. She tried to relax. It was only a drawing after all. She could always start again. And tomorrow she could go and see Alex, on her own. She smiled at the thought.

He was in her dream again, sat on the floor beside her as she drew the glove. It didn't bother her now. The glove had finally started to look real. She had almost every detail perfect. He didn't speak, but when she looked up at him, he gave her a big smile, before leaning towards her, his lips touching hers. She looked at the glove again. She hadn't noticed the few rusty spots on the blades. She began adding them to the drawing.

Alex kissed her again, a longer kiss this time. She looked back to the glove. The tips of the blades were red. When she went to shade that part of the drawing, it was already red. She touched it. It was wet. She wiped her finger down the paper, leaving a red trail.

"It's good," Alex said, lifting the glove. The claws clanked together, hanging downwards like a wind chime. Louisa reached up and touched the red tips. They were sharp.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

Louisa's fingers were tingling as she awoke. Another Freddy dream, with Alex.

It was hot. She couldn't get used to this heat, she thought, touching the cold wall behind her, knowing that Alex would be asleep on the other side. Her shoulders were red with sunburn and the straps of her pyjamas rubbed the skin as she sat up, leaning on the wall. Emma had noticed it yesterday, and warned her to keep her shoulders covered.

It was 7am. Sam wouldn't be awake yet. The thought of spending the afternoon with Alex made her heart beat a little faster. Would it be awkward without Sam there? She wondered if he'd be awake, listening for movements behind the wall. She glanced at the small bedside table where her drawing lay. The glove hadn't magically appeared more real overnight. Maybe Sam would let her bring her chalks into Alex's.

Sam agreed to let her take the chalks next door whilst she went to her aunt's birthday. Alex, when she arrived, wasn't long out of the shower, and his hair was still damp, sticking to his forehead. His mother was on her way out to work, saying a quick hello-goodbye as Louisa entered the flat.

She wanted to re-enact her dream, with both of them sat together on the floor as she drew, but she couldn't draw with him watching her. She knew that. He offered her his desk, which he'd cleared.

She sat down on the swivel chair, placing her drawing in front of her. Alex took the glove from the shelf, the claws dangling in the air. Louisa took the glove by the claws, relieved to feel that they were soft. _Of course they're soft. _She arranged the glove into a flat position as it had been last night; the claws spread out, and then looked back to her drawing. She sighed and ripped the page out of the sketch book tossing it aside.

"Don't you like it?" Alex asked her.

She shook her head and looked at the fresh page in front of her. With a brown piece of chalk, she began to draw the glove, starting at the wrist.

"I'm just gonna be on my Xbox," Alex told her, turning on the TV.

Louisa nodded, disappointed that he wouldn't be there to bend in for a kiss, but glad that he wasn't going to watch. The drawing worked better with chalk, she decided, having done the entire main glove. Now for the blades. This was where it could get difficult. The first blade came out just as she wanted it to, and she was engrossed getting it to look perfect. She couldn't hear the sounds from Alex's game. She didn't notice when they'd stopped.

He appeared beside her, giving her a start.

"Oh!" she yelped, her high pitch echoing in the silent room. They both laughed a little.

"Didn't mean to," Alex said. His hair was completely dry now. "I'm making a sandwich. You want one?"

"Yeah, please." She'd been there an hour now. Alex looked down at the drawing.

"It looks good. You like peanut butter?"

"Yeah." Louisa looked at her hands. They were covered in brown and grey chalk. "I need to wash my hands."

She met Alex in the kitchen. He had laid the two sandwiches on the stone coloured work surface, alongside two glasses of orange juice. They ate in the living room. It was the first time Louisa had been there. The room was the same size and shape as Emma's living room, but unlike Emma's cream coloured walls, the walls were a pale blue, and the couch a dark blue leather.

After surfing through TV channels, and concluding nothing was on, Alex decided they could watch a film. He returned from his room with "A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2", his favourite. It was the film Louisa had seen the least of lately, despite it being part of her collection. The first scene with the school bus had given her many nightmares since the first time she watched it at the age of twelve. Given the fact she'd had two nightmares in five nights, she thought this would mean she'd most likely have one tonight as well, but she couldn't tell Alex that.

The large window at the front of the room allowed it to be lit naturally. Louisa imagined the two of them sat together in a cinema, as the first scene had her on the edge of her seat. If they were in the cinema he could hug her, or laugh at her for being afraid. As the film progressed, she relaxed, sitting back on the couch, unaware of how close she'd gotten to Alex. His aftershave was strong. She felt her phone vibrate in her jeans pocket, it was Sam calling her.

"Hey," she said as Louisa answered, "you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, realising how close she and Alex had been sitting as they made eye contact. "I'm fine. What's up?"

"Everything's gone a bit behind schedule. We didn't get to the restaurant til later, then the food took forever. We're still waiting for dessert, then I have to go to Shelly's for an hour. Are you okay to stay with Alex? Does he have any plans?"

Louisa looked up at Alex, into his dark brown eyes. They were beautiful eyes. "Sam's going to be a while. Do you have any plans? I can go back next door if you do."

He shook his head. "No. No plans. You can hang here."

"That's fine," Louisa told Sam. "I'm fine here."

"Oh good, I promise I'll try get back as fast as I can."

"Don't worry. I'm fine here." She hung up the phone call. She was still so close to Alex, and wondered if she should move away a little, even if she didn't want to. "Everything's gone behind at her aunt's birthday," she told him.

"They always do with her dad's family," he answered, also not moving. "Her mum's side is way cooler. Well, the ones I've met."

Louisa tried to stop herself from grinning. "All two of us?"

"Yeah, all two." He grinned back at her. Did he like her?

They went back to watching the film. Louisa wanted to lean on Alex. What if he shrugged her off? Then she would still have another three weeks to feel embarrassed passing him in the corridor. It was when the film finished, and they were watching the credits, that she felt his hand hold hers gently, his fingers tickling her palm.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked, his eyes meeting hers again.

"I don't know," she shrugged, stopping herself from giggling like a nervous little girl. "Whatever. It's your house."

"You're the guest. I mean, we could go back to my room, you could draw some more, we could watch another film, or stay here?"

"I don't know." She let her head fall onto his shoulder then, breathing in the aftershave. "I guess I'm good here."

He moved his hand from hers, placing his arms around her shoulders. She looked into his eyes again as he moved closer to her, his lips touching hers. She opened her mouth letting his tongue enter, touching hers, her hand holding his body close to her. The kiss felt like it lasted forever. Their eyes met again when it ended, and they just sat there, in the silence.

"Yeah," Alex said eventually. "You're way cooler."


End file.
